Maeve, Day 3

Today was a fantastic day. I woke up and headed down to the NICU. When I got there I nearly jumped out of my skin! Maeve was off of the CPAP valve and out of the warming bed. She had only the oxygen cannula in her nose and her IV in her foot. I just picked her up immediately, hoping it was okay. The nurse came over a little while later and told us that they tried to take off the oxygen as well but she didn't tolerate that. She immediately started breathing rapidly and so they had to at least keep that on. Paul showed up shortly thereafter and he finally got to hold her as well. After a little while the nurse asked if I wanted to try to feed her. We took a shot at it and got her to latch on again which she did, but she was getting all of her food through the IV so she wasn't hungry and primarily slept. They said we could try again later. We headed to get some lunch and coffee and then headed back again. After a little while they invited us to change her diaper again and to take her temperature. They cut her IV nutrients in half to make her a little more hungry and we tried to feed her again. She did okay, but kept falling asleep. We were very pleased with the whole experience.

I was pretty bummed about the whole situation of going home. I was discharged today and I was just so sad to think that I would be an hour away from her all night long. Paul was going to leave and get Noah and bring him back for dinner and to see Maeve and then we were all going to go home. When the nurses heard that we lived so far away they told us about the Family Rooms that they offered. There are only 2 of them and they are generally reserved for families with babies in critical condition. The nurse went to check and neither of them was reserved for the night, so they put my name in. I could get bumped at any time before 8pm if there is someone with greater need.

So, we changed our plans and both headed home to get Noah from preschool. We ate dinner with him and played with him a bit and I gathered some clean clothes and headed back to the hospital.

I raced in to see Maeve and they had just finished feeding her with the bottle which was a bummer. But, the good news is that they took out her IV while I was gone and now she will try to receive all food by mouth which should change her reactions to feeding, since she won't have a constant flow of nutrients. I asked about the oxygen and they said they weren't going to try to take her off again today, maybe tomorrow. So, that's the status as of now.... what an exciting day!!!!!!!